


Prologue

by theseourbodies



Series: Epithet [1]
Category: Jurassic Park (Movies), Jurassic World (2015)
Genre: Gen, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-30
Updated: 2016-12-30
Packaged: 2018-09-13 09:34:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 648
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9117976
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theseourbodies/pseuds/theseourbodies
Summary: Before the raptors, there was Barry.





	

Owen really meets Barry on paper first, but that's real different from meeting the man himself; for one thing, nowhere in the heavy-ass file Claire Dearing hands him gingerly (heh) is the name 'Barry.' 

Barthélemy D'Orso has a lot of intimidating but ultimately incomprehensible letters after his name and an even more incomprehensible list of recent activities attached with his resume; understandable or not, though, Owen doesn't need to know the guy's intimate motivations to know that D'Orso has more practical experience with predators and pack animals than any of the other candidates whose files Owen has been forced to peruse. Owen's impressed despite himself, and he gives Dearing back her stupidly dense file with a nod after barely scanning the second page. 

She looks sharp and pleased, which means he hadn't imagined the neater-seeming pages or the unusually direct descriptions; she'd wanted him to say yes. She's tricky as hell, fast on her skinny-heeled feet in a way that gets him excited, makes him focus He gets caught up in her, in the little dance they have going on, and he mostly forgets about it; his raptors-- _raptors_ , the _dinosaurs_ he was going to train and raise, Je-sus Christ-- are still growing. There's time for some hunting of his own before D'Orso and his meaningless academic letters arrive. 

\---

D'Orso is in the middle of the newly built raptor-- raptor, rap _tor_ , _raptor_ , he's still not over it-- enclosure when Owen finally meets him. 

On paper, there was already a lot that was interesting about the man, but in person all that knowledge somehow made more sense to Owen. The man had four inches on Owen and a generous, easy grin that made the height and breadth of him seem friendly instead of blatantly intimidating. He was dressed for the weather, too, which was already earning him brownie points in Owen's book-- if Owen had to send one more assistant-handler to the infirmary with heatstroke, he was going to lose it, probably. 

Owen leans on the bright-hot railing, high above where D'Orso's surveying the big open space they've left for staging and training. "You Barthélemy D'Orso?" he asks, and he knows he's butchered it by the way D'Orso's smile goes crooked. Owen refuses to be embarrassed, despite the heat he feels in his cheeks. 

D'Orso brings a hand up to shade his eyes when he glances up and Owen. "Only to my mother, and the loan company. Please, call me Barry. Save your tongue and my ears, yes?" His voice is low and rich, swelling in the space between ground and catwalk easily. 

It's a joke to make Owen feel better, and he appreciates it, likes the instant shit-talking camaraderie he can feel between the two of them already. He grins easily, feeling the excitement really take hold. 

"Well I sure 'preciate that, Barry," Owen says, kicking up his accent just to see Barry's grin get that much bigger. "I gotta beer and some important documents with your name on them if you'll meet me over outside." It gets him a laugh, and Owen strides toward the access stairs quickly, grinning himself. He had been worried that it would be him against the suits and the bright-eyed money hunters-- as much as he wants to get her down to her clear skin in a hot dark room sometime, he knows that even Claire isn't really on his side, on the animals' side, she's made that clear. Owen's felt the need for a partner growing with the raptors themselves, someone to keep him from getting lost between the animals on the ground and the animals in the offices; as he lands in the dust outside the enclosure and gets the full effect-- big grin, hard body, broad hands--Owen feels himself settle, finally. He's always been a pack animal, himself, and Barry feels like a good packmate to have.


End file.
